Review by Mark Ventrice

RIYL: The Rocket Summer, NeverShoutNever

Recommended Tracks: “If You Say Stay I Won’t Go”, “Is That Too Much?”

Grade: B

Hushed but crisp vocals, lots of instruments, and good lyrics are just a few things that you will find on this album. According to the sleeve that the CD came in, instruments such as a glockenspiel, cello, dobro and mandolins are featured on this album. That’s a lot of instruments, some of which are uncommon to this kind of music. All five songs on this album are pretty good in their own way, but two of them stand out above the rest.

The first standout track is “If You Say Stay I Won’t Move”, which seems to be the song with the mandolin among other instruments. This song is the most catchy of any of the other songs on the album. Adam Hichens puts a lot of effort into the way the vocals sound and perfects this hushed but still crisp and clean sound. This song has a really nice beat to it beyond how great the vocals are. It sounds like a softer version of something you could hear from bands like The Rocket Summer or other single guys with band names who were popular in the late 2000’s. Maybe even NeverShoutNever but not as far as someone like The Ready Set. “Is That Too Much?” is similar to the aforementioned song above, but it’s a little bit more upbeat and seems to be happier. Everything else is pretty similar but still unique enough to be good and not repetitive and boring like some bands who have this style.

All in all, this album is unique enough to at least set aside a bit of time to listen to it, even if it’s only the two songs mentioned here. This isn’t going to set the world on fire, but it’s still pretty good.